Electric terminal



Nov. 27, 1962 J. w. MOBARRY ELECTRIC TERMINAL Filed NOV. 9, 1959 INVENTOR.

JOHN W. MOBARRY BY ATTORNEY United States Patent Gfihce 3,066,204 ELECTRIC TERMENAL John W. Mobarry, Edina, Minn, assignor to Minneapolis- Honeywell Regulator Company, Minneapolis, Minn, a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 851,596 4 Claims. (Cl. 200-87) The present invention is directed to an improved electric terminal and more specifically is directed to a terminal which combines a screw type terminal with a quick connect type terminal.

The screw type terminal and the quick connect type terminal are both terminals commonly found in the electrical art. Due to the nature of most devices a screw terminal or a quick connect terminal on the device will serve all of the functions necessary for the device. In recent years many devices and electrical components have been developed which are partly factory wired and partly field wired. Typical of this type of device is a contactor for air conditioning control panels. When the contact-or is placed in a control panel it is partially wired at the factory for a particular function but certain terminal connections must be made in the field or at the location where the air conditioning equipment associated with the control-panel is to be used.

In factory wired electrical devices it has become common to use a quick connect type terminal with quick connect clips which are clamped onto the wire by either hand operated or automatically operated machines. The quick connect terminal and clip provide for fast wiring and allow for convenient disconnecting of equipment if that becomes necessary. The use of quick connect clips in the field is limited due to the need of special clamping tools and by conventional trade practices. As such, the normal field wiring is accomplished in a more conventional fashion, that is by stripping a wire bare of insulation and wrapping it around a screw which forms part of a screw terminal. It becomes highly desirable to utilize a terminal arrangement on electrical devices that can be either factory wired with quick connection type clips or field wired in the more conventional manner. As such it has become necessary to provide a combined terminal which can be readily wired by either method.

On the surface it would appear that a simple arrangement of the screw terminal and quick connect terminal could be supplied to meet this need. This is not true in total as certain safety requirements must be met in commercially avail-able equipment in order to made the equipment acceptable to the manufacturers and the buying public. As such, no known combination of these two terminals has been accepted by the trade as none have been considered acceptable to Underwriters Laboratories. Underwriters Laboratories is a well known testing organization which passes on the safety of electrical and other devices and without their approval of a terminal, it is difiicult to obtain commercial acceptance. One of the main drawbacks to a combined screw terminal and quick connect terminal is that the quick connect section can normally be easily bent into mechanical or electrical interference with the balance of the terminal or with other associated equipment. Exceedingly rigorous standards have been established and prior to the present invention no known accepted combination terminal has been available.

It is the primary object of the present invention to disclose a combined screw type and quick connect terminal that meets the safety standards established in the electrical industry.

It is a further object of the present invention to disclose a compact terminal suitable for use in either field or quick connect use or both.

3,066,204 Patented Nov. 27, 1952 It is yet another object of the present invention to disclose a combined terminal for a contactor or relay that is capable of being factory or field wired without danger of interference of the different types of wires used.

Yet another object of the present invention is to disclose the combination of a screw and quick connect terminal that is rigidly located in the housing associated with the terminal and to provide for rapid wiring both in the factory and in the field.

These and other objects will become apparent when the present specification is considered with the associated sheet of drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is atop view of a contactor;

FIGURE 2 is a partial cross section of the contactor of FIGURE 1 along lines 22, and;

FIGURE 3 is a partial cross section of one of the quick connect terminals and its associated insulated support and wall members as taken along lines 33 of FIGURE 1.

The present invention has been specifically disclosed as incorporated in a contactor of a type which is normally utilized in a control panel for air conditioning equipment. This type of contactor normally requires both field and factory wiring and therefore the combined terminal has particular utility in combination with this contactor. The contactor will be described first.

In FIGURE 2 a contactor 10 is disclosed having a coil 11 and a magnetic frame 12. The magnetic frame 12 is of the E type and has an I type armature 13 connected to aplastic or insulated type guide member 14. The coil 11 and core 12 are mounted on frame means 15 which each have two upward-standing projections shown best in FEGURE l as 16. Associated with frame means 15 are the necessary guides 17 and springs 26 which position a sliding clamp 21 that rides on the guides 17 when the armature 13 is moved in response to the energization of coil 11.

The guide member 14 has two projections 22 which hold springs 23 by means of clips 24 into the projections 22. The springs 23 in turn hold shorting bars 25 which are used to short between contacts 26 of the terminal means shown as 27. It will be understood that the contactor generally disclosed has four symmetrically located terminal means 27 and only one will be mentioned in detail.

The terminal means 27 is mounted on an insulated support means 3% which is in turn held by the four up right projections 16 of the frame means 15. The insulated support means 30 form the mounting means for the terminal means 27, as well as, providing for a number of Wail-like sections and projections utilized for positioning and protecting parts of the terminal means. In detail, the terminal means 27 is formed having screw terminal means 31 and quick connect terminal means 32. The screw terminal means 31 is formed of the screw 33 and part of the terminal means 27. The screw 33 and the terminal means 27 form a conventional screw type terminal arrangement that is well known in the art.

The quick connect terminal means 32 is joined to the terminal means 27 by an integral joint 34. The quick connect terminal means specifically disclosed has two upstanding quick connect terminals 35 joined by a support member 36 which is formed integrally with the joint 34. It is understood that quick connect terminals 35 could be replaced by a single quick connect terminal rather than by the pair as specifically disclosed in the present drawing and specification.

Formed around the outer edge of the insulating support fail is an insulated ridge which has a plurality of walllike members projecting in an inward and an upward direction. These wall-like members are specifically de- 3 tailed at 40, 41, and 42. Each of the wall sections 40 through 42 has a rounded projection 43 which narrows the space between the walls 40, '41 and 42.

The projections 43 form a narrow slot between the walls 40, il, and 42 into which the terminal means 32 is placed. The projections 43 provide two specific functions. The first function is to provide a limited space into which the quick connect terminal means 32 is positioned so as to support the base of the upward-standing terminals 35. This gives the quick connect terminal means 32 a rigidity needed to provide safe and economical support. The projections 43 also position the quick connect terminal means 32 thereby positioning the terminal means 27. The terminal means 27 project through openings 37 in the insulating support 30. The terminal means are then bent under at 38 to lock the terminal means 27 into a fixed relationship with the insulating support 30. It is thus apparent that the propjections 43 provide the centering of the terminal means 27 and also provide a good support for the quick connect terminal means 32.

As is disclosed in FIGURE 3 the walls 44) through 42 provide an insulated housing or space for the quick connect terminals 35'. This insulates the quick connect terminal means 32 from the surrounding areas and also provides a means of preventing the quick connect terminal means 32 from being bent or otherwise being displaced from its original position.

Quick connect terminal clips 50 and associated wire 51 have been disclosed for illustrative purposes showing a quick connect terminal clip in place on two of the quick connect terminal means 32. It is apparent from this disclosure that the terminals are well protected and are retained in their original position regardless of forces applied when the quick connect terminal clips 50 are inserted onto the quick connect terminal means 32. Also disclosed are two wires 52 which lead to the screw 33 of the screw terminal means 31.

From the present disclosure it can be seen that a terminal means has been provided wherein a screw terminal means and a quick connect terminal means are integrally joined to form a terminal means for the joint use of wire or quick connect clips or both simultaneously. The quick connect terminal means are protected by walled sections formed on the support means of the contactor and provide the necessary rigidity and safety to the unit. While the combined terminal has been specifically disclosed in an improved contactor design it is understood that the present invention could be varied and be presented in many forms. As such the applicant wishes to be limited in scope of his invention only by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an electrical device of the class described: an insulated support; terminal means having a substantially flat screw terminal adapted to receive a bare wire; a quick connect terminal adapted to receive at least one quick connect clip; said quick connect terminal being integrally joined to a side of said screw terminal and projecting perpendicularly from said side; said terminal means mounted on said support; and said support having wall sections which each have an integral projection; said wall sections partly encircling said quick connect terminal with said projections positioning said quick connect terminal to mechanically and electrically protect said quick connect terminal means; said terminal means further being adapted to be used with either said wire or said clip or both simultaneously.

2. In an electrical device of the class described: insulated support means; terminal means having a screw terminal adapted to receive a bare wire, and quick connect terminal means adapted to receive at least one quick connect clip; said quick connect terminal means being integrally joined to a side of said screw terminal and projecting from said side; said terminal means mounted on said support means; and said support means having wall sections which each have an integral projection; said wall sections partly encircling said quick connect terminal means and having said projections positioning said quick connect terminal means to mechanically and electrically protect said quick connect terminal means; said terminal means further being adapted to be used with either said wire or said clip or both simultaneously.

3. In a contactor: frame means cooperatively holding electromagnetic operating means and contact support means; contact means and terminal means mounted on said contact support means and said contact means operated by said electromagnetic operating means; said terminal means having a substantially flat screw terminal including a screw adapted to receive a bare wire between a head of said screw and said fiat screw terminal; quick connect terminal means adapted to receive at least one quick connect clip; said quick connect terminal means being integrally joined to a side of said screw terminal and projecting perpendicularly from said side; and said support means having wall sections which form integral projections therewith; said wall sections partially encircling said quick connect terminal means with said projections positioning said quick connect terminal to mechanically and electrically protect said quick connect terminal means; said terminal means further adapted to connect said contactor by use of either said wire or said clip or both simultaneously.

4. In an electrical device, including: support means; terminal means having screw terminal means including a screw adapted to receive wire between a head of said screw and said screw terminal means; quick connect terminal means adapted to receive at least one quick connect clip; said quick connect terminal means being integrally joined to a side of said screw terminal means and projecting from said screw terminal means; said terminal means mounted on said support means; and said support means having protective wall sections; said wall sections partly encircling said quick connect terminal means to protect said quick connect terminal means from being displaced relative to said screw terminal means; said wall sections leaving said screw terminal means substantially fully exposed on said support means to provide ready access to said screw head; said terminal means further being adapted to be used with either said wire or said clip or both simultaneously.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,026,653 Brunt May 21, 1912 1,557,248 Gernsback Oct. 13, 1925 1,639,161 Bohlman Aug. 16, 1927 2,403,642 Draxler July 9, 1946 2,859,302 Schleicher Nov. 4, 1958 2,907,847 Grenier et al. Oct. 6, 1959 

